~ Reflections on Matters of Jewish Interest

Open Letter to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and Pro-Israel Organizations

Thank you so much for your repeated and ongoing dedication to the Jewish people, Jewish values, and to the well-being of the State of Israel.

The recent biased editorial in the New York Times reviewing the UN report is not the only evidence for the NYT’s anti-Israel bias. The Times’s anti-Israel bias has been noted and confirmed in numbers time and again, and has been openly criticized for that by the Netanyahu administration. In light of these facts it would seem sound for you to stop taking full-page ads in the NYT whose cost can be upwards of $100,000, which ultimately help fund this anti-Israel activity.

It does not make any sense for you, and major pro-Israel organizations, to be taking pro-Israel ads in the NYT, thereby supporting an anti-Israel publication. The beauty of a free-market democracy is that when we find ideas or products objectionable we are able to go elsewhere and support those whom we like.

I look forward to seeing this change from you and other major pro-Israel organizations.

Rabbi Elchanan Poupko

Fellow, the Institute for Advanced Research in Jewish Law, Yeshiva University